This article is about how a certain toxin from algae is killing many sea lions along the Pacific Coast. The toxin is called domoic acid, and it kills the sea lion’s brain cells. In sea lions, the decrease of brain cells from the domoic acid is causing memory loss, and worsening navigational skills. This makes it very hard for the sea lions to survive, because they need their navigational skills to hunt for food. The toxic algae causing this problem mostly blooms in the Spring, and then last a few weeks. But, this year’s bloom from the Spring, all the way to the Summer. Also, instead of only finding sick sea lions in California, people have found them all the way up in Washington and Oregon. Scientist Peter Cook picked up 30 sea lions, and put …show more content…
I never would have guessed that this little toxin could affect the sea lion’s survival so greatly. This article is amazing, because it shows how much a sea lion depends on its navigational skills and memory to find food and survive. I wonder how much time a sea lion in the wild has to live once it gets poisoned. It is interesting that humans can also contract this poison. The article stated that domoic acid poisoning in humans is very rare, but cases could increase, because the warm ocean temperatures are perfect for the algae to bloom and grow. The article also said that the MRI’s from the poisoned sea lions could help them recognize domoic acid poisoning in humans. I am curious to know how similar the sea lion’s brain and the human’s brain are. I am wondering this because if the sea lion’s brain is so different than the human’s brain, then the MRI’s might not help as much. I am also curious to know how a human can contract domoic acid poisoning. Can you get the poisoning from just swimming near the algae? Or, do you have to eat the algae to contract the disease. This article makes me a bit nervous because I am wondering if the algae containing the domoic acid could spread to the Atlantic Coast. And if it can spread to the Atlantic Coast, would I be able to contract the poison from swimming in the